FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
With the 2014 football regular season officially over and the bi-district playoff schedule set in stone, lets take a look at some of the upcoming sub 5A matchups and look back at some of the seasons leaders.
In District 16-4A DI, La Feria (4-6) faces a tough Gonzales (4-6) team at Flour Bluff stadium in Corpus Christi this Friday. The Lions finished off the regular season on a two-game losing skid before going on a bye last week. Gonzalez, on the other hand, has won four of its last five games.
Statistically, the Apaches look like a balanced team with 1,475 passing yards and 1,902 rushing yards with 5-9 junior running back Alyas Ramirez getting most of the carries.
RING OF FIRE: This year District 16-4A DII turned into the FIFA’s equivalent of “the group of death” with a hand full of great teams that were thrown together.
Orange Grove reined supreme and took the district crown with an unblemished district record. The Bulldogs finished the season 9-1, 4-0 and had the district’s top offense with over 4,000 yards.
Quarterback Hondo Harris finished with 2,505 passing yards from 150 of 223 attempts.
The Raymondville Bearkats finished second with 3,585 yards, while Rio Hondo took third with 3,492 total yards.
Raymondville’s Miguel Tristan was the district’s leading rusher. The senior finished the regular season with 1,454 yards on 141 carries. Rio Hondo’s Marco Garate was second with 1,241 yards on 211 attempts followed by Port Isabel’s Jaime Gonzalez, who had 1,165 yards from 127 carries.
Rio Hondo’s defense played lights-out and capped off the regular season allowing an average of 172.4 yards per game.
The Bobcats (8-2) face Cuero (8-2) at Cabaniss field in Corpus Christi.
Port Isabel finished with the districts leading rushing offense totaling over 3,000 yards, behind top rushers Jaime Gonzalez (1165 yards) and Alex De Los Santos (869 yards).
The Tarpons will now face a tough Sinton team at Kingsville A&M Friday, while Raymondville faces Yoakum at Calallen’s Wildcat Stadium,
NO TEAM LEFT BEHIND: In District 16-3A DI, both Lyford (4-6, 3-2) and Santa Rosa (5-5, 2-3) made it into the postseason.
Lyford faces off against Hallettsville (7-3) behind a strong season from quarterback John Rivera. The junior threw for over 1,800 yards to a plethora of receiving options.
The Warriors will travel to Taft and take on a tough Goliad team that went 9-1 this season.
Santa Rosa was led by senior Wally Olivarez, who rushed for 809 yards from 147 carries.
JUST MISSED OUT: In District 16-2A DI, both Valley squads missed out on the playoffs.
La Villa finished in a three-way tie for the final two spots with a 3-7, 2-3 record.
The Cardinals finished in fourth place on points but Corpus Christi London had the tie breaker even after the Red Birds managed to beat them 39-34 earlier in the season.
La Villa’s 32-27 loss to Riviera proved to be the decisive blow.
Santa Maria got off to a strong 2-1 start beating MMA and Benavides. However, a multitude of key injuries, to an already depleted squad, left the team with and 0-5 district record and out of the playoffs.